Local haul

[Gil]

I got an email from a person in my area who asked if I wanted an old "Performa type" computer, with large B&W office printer. He was located only 2 blocks from me, so of course I said yes, and I got:

- A Power Macintosh 7200/120

I got it to boot up ONCE before the hard drive died, only had a chance to see that the last changes on the hard drive were from April 2001 - Didn't get to see what kind of programs were on the drive. Turns out only the hard drive's interface board is fried...the drive itself is fine. So now I'm looking for a replacement board for a Quantum Fireball FBTMS 655-0394, 1.2 GB drive.

- A LaserWriter Pro 630 or 16/600.

I didn't take it out of the box, but I recognise the design. It's either a Pro 630 or a 16/600. Very yellow.

- A bunch of docs.

Including an eWorld brochure. User Guide for a Power Macintosh 7100

- Boxed OS 8.5

Never actually owned 8.5 before.

Pics:













Oh yeah, it cost me $10.

 

[Mars478]

Very nice! I think you should just pop a new HD in it. It may cost too much to get that board.

 

[Gil]

Very nice! I think you should just pop a new HD in it. It may cost too much to get that board.

Without seeing what was on the drive? Where's the fun in that? :b&w:

 

[Gil]

The printer is a LaserWriter Pro 600.

 

[Mars478]

You are going to give us Mac collectors a bad name! } Oh noes!

 

[Gil]

You are going to give us Mac collectors a bad name! } Oh noes!

What's wrong with poking around in the hard drive? Not only do I not care what's on it, if there was any information that the previous owner did not want to be seen by others, they should have deleted it.

IMO, any time there is still data on the hard drive that is not sensitive, it's fair game.

 

[Mars478]

True. I am just regurgitating what LCGuy said in my thread:

Nice score. Just please, whatever you do, make sure you do end up erasing his old files, without reading them. There's no need to give us vintage Mac enthusiasts a bad name (and make things harder for us by giving people a reason to not give/sell us their machines) by reading donated data.

Here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10869

 

[Gil]

True. I am just regurgitating what LCGuy said in my thread:

Nice score. Just please, whatever you do, make sure you do end up erasing his old files, without reading them. There's no need to give us vintage Mac enthusiasts a bad name (and make things harder for us by giving people a reason to not give/sell us their machines) by reading donated data.

Here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10869

Because in the first post of that thread, you said that the seller TOLD you to erase the data. That's much different than not even mentioning the contents of the drive. Had the seller told me to please erase the files, I would have done so. But he didn't, so it's fair game.

 

[Mars478]

Whatever you say...

 

[LCGuy]

Personally, my belief on looking at data on old computers, is that you shouldn't, regardless of whether the previous owner requested you to delete it or not. Look at file names and file creation/modification dates to get an idea as to when the machine was last used, and what it was used for, and look for any software that you may find useful (as well as any software that you may need to use any gear you got with the machine), but do not look at other people's data.

The reason I feel so strongly about this is because I have had people refuse to give or sell me their old machines (choosing to dump them instead) because they're worried about the safety of their data, and by people looking at other people's data on old machines, its only going to make it harder for us vintage computer enthusiasts to get old machines (and therefore, also parts for old machines) if people get paranoid about their data ending up in the wrong hands. Its hard enough as it is already.

Lets put it this way...how would you feel about someone reading your sensitive personal, business or education-related data?

 

[Gil]

Personally, my belief on looking at data on old computers, is that you shouldn't, regardless of whether the previous owner requested you to delete it or not. Look at file names and file creation/modification dates to get an idea as to when the machine was last used, and what it was used for, and look for any software that you may find useful (as well as any software that you may need to use any gear you got with the machine), but do not look at other people's data.

Which, if your (or anyone else) bothered to read the first posts, was exactly my intent.

Lets put it this way...how would you feel about someone reading your sensitive personal, business or education-related data?

There's a very distinct difference between getting an idea when/what the computer was last used for, and maliciously stealing someone's personal information. I have no desire to read through the documents stored on the drive, and I certainly have no desire in performing malicious actions with said documents. As I've said before, anyone who sells/donates a used computer should know better than to leave information they wish to remain undisclosed, intact; And I certaintly don't believe that leaving such information intact, constitutes malicious attacks.

The reason I feel so strongly about this is because I have had people refuse to give or sell me their old machines (choosing to dump them instead) because they're worried about the safety of their data, and by people looking at other people's data on old machines, its only going to make it harder for us vintage computer enthusiasts to get old machines (and therefore, also parts for old machines) if people get paranoid about their data ending up in the wrong hands. Its hard enough as it is already.

Then I really feel sorry for those who feel it's easier to trash a computer (where the data is still highly vulnerable) than to simply delete their files, and/or format the hard disk. I do find it somewhat hard to believe that this is the case, in such a technologically-advanced society where these practices are common knowledge.

I'm also really surprised that no one else has ever had the curiosity to see what was on the hard drive of a new computer conquest.

/end rant.

 

[LCGuy]

This wasn't a personal attack on you - I was just making a statement, as I think a few people here do read other people's data on machines that they get.

Then I really feel sorry for those who feel it's easier to trash a computer (where the data is still highly vulnerable) than to simply delete their files, and/or format the hard disk. I do find it somewhat hard to believe that this is the case, in such a technologically-advanced society where these practices are common knowledge.

/end rant.

Unfortunately, a lot of the time when you get these machines, you're dealing with the general public, whose only knowledge of a computer is, "I put electricity in, and I get Microsoft Word/Internet/Email out of it". A lot of people simply don't know about deleting files, or formatting the hard disk. They also don't know that the hard drive can be completely removed and destroyed on its own, therefore making it impossible to extract any more data from the system. Unfortunately some of them also don't want to learn (and yes, I have tried to explain all this to these sorts of people), and sadly there's nothing we can do about that.

 

[Gil]

This wasn't a personal attack on you - I was just making a statement, as I think a few people here do read other people's data on machines that they get.

As was I, so I apologize if I sounded overly defensive.

Then I really feel sorry for those who feel it's easier to trash a computer (where the data is still highly vulnerable) than to simply delete their files, and/or format the hard disk. I do find it somewhat hard to believe that this is the case, in such a technologically-advanced society where these practices are common knowledge.

/end rant.

Unfortunately, a lot of the time when you get these machines, you're dealing with the general public, whose only knowledge of a computer is, "I put electricity in, and I get Microsoft Word/Internet/Email out of it". A lot of people simply don't know about deleting files, or formatting the hard disk. They also don't know that the hard drive can be completely removed and destroyed on its own, therefore making it impossible to extract any more data from the system. Unfortunately some of them also don't want to learn (and yes, I have tried to explain all this to these sorts of people), and sadly there's nothing we can do about that.

That's really, incredibly sad, then.

 

[MrMacPlus]

When I get an old Mac that still has the data I always poke around to see what's there personal files I could care less about though. For example, my Performa had Photoshop and Pagemaker on it, both of which I have yet to back up (I will have to soon though ).

 

[Mars478]

I am getting an WhiteBook and TiBook and they are being delayed from being in my hands because, "They have to get the data off of it" Blasphemy. I told em Ill remove the HDs for them, and they are like, no its ok we can do it.

8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o

 

[Cory5412]

What they might mean by that is that the machines have data on them that aren't already on other computers, it's not always that they want the data secret or private, as much as that they want to preserve some old photos, ripped CDs, school papers or whatever it was the machines were used for.

In terms of getting data off of old machines, my policy has always been that an investigtion is fine as long as I don't look for too long. I did actually at one point find myself reading old school papers that were on an SE I had gotten from a GoodWill tore, and more than anything, it was weird, like the machine had been used in a creative writing class.

In terms of getting software off of old machines, my recommendation is personally to restrict it to drivers, and EXTREMELY rare pieces of software that are nowhere else on the internet.

The simple fact of the matter is that it's already archived somewhere else, and the other archiving group has likely done a better job at capturing the original data that was on the installer disks, not data that was in somebody's working installation of an OS. When you make a bad copy of a piece of software, you make it more difficult to find a good copy.